When it comes to engaging with a broad set of advertising formats, Millennials show remarkably similar tendencies to previous generations, albeit with more emphasis on the influence of friends, forums and familiar brands. AN AMERICAN DIGITAL NATIVE IS MORE LIKELY TO BE 1. Ethically conscious 2. Caring about self-image 3. Culturally blended 4. Committed single 5. Mobile • Centennials are more sceptical and wary. Two thirds prefer to interact with friends in person, as opposed to 15 per cent who would rather do so online. A majority prefer to make purchases in brick-and mortar shops rather than online. • Research conducted by J. Walter Thompson shows that Millennial views about technology are much more nuanced than they are often portrayed. In fact, they fear being trapped by it. • Millennials show a disturbing tendency not to follow the rules set by those who first tried to define them. For instance, they read. A study by Pew Research in 2015 showed a surprising pattern in book reading, with those aged 18–29 more likely than their elders to have read a book in the last 12 months. Now many of them are still students, but the point stands. Fully 80 per cent of the youngest group had read a book, compared to 71 per cent of those aged 30–49, 68 per cent of those 50–64 and only 69 per cent of those 65 and older. • Millennials continue to engage with traditional advertising formats more than Gen S, in fact. Of course, they often do so in a different way. • Millennials are “meshers”. They use second devices to complement the content they’re accessing on the first. And they’re “showroomers”, meaning, they research their purchases in the virtual universe, and then buy.